Fiber treatment



21, 1943. w. R. SIMPSON ETAL 8 FIBER TREATMENT Filed may 17, 1941 NV 0 A wzw /s w L Y 4 7' ORNE Y5 WALTER Patented Dec. 21, 1943 l FIBER TREATMENT Walter Raymond Simpson and Harmon Howorth,

Pearisburg, Va., assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application Ma 17, 1941, Serial No. 393,880

, 3 Claims.

This invention relates to the treatment of fibrous materials and more particularly to the treatment of textile materials and the like in the form of staple fibers.

In the processing of fibrous materials and especially in processing staple fibers which are to be spun into yarns, threads, and the like, it is often desirable to apply to said materials various liquid finishing agents which impart the desired frictional and electrical qualities to the fibers and enable them to be spun into yarns in a smooth and even manner while permitting the static electricity generated by the processing to be conducted away and grounded. Also it is frequently desired to treat fibrous materials with tinting agents or dye liquors for the purposes of identification and th'e'like. While batch processes have been employed for treating these materials such processes are disadvantageous since the fibrous materials may not be entirely uniform from batch to batch and, in addition, the materials require a much handling from vessel to vesselwhile they are being processed.

It is accordingly an important object of our invention to provide means for' treating fibrous materials in the form of staple fibers with various liquid agents in a continuous process.

Another object of our invention is the provision, in means for treating said fibrous materials,-

of means whereby the application of the liquid agents may be accurately controlled and uniform results obtained with the use of only a relatively small amount of liquid.

Other objects of our invention, together with certain details of construction and combination of parts will appear from the following detailed description and the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view, in perspective, of one form of apparatus suitable for carrying out our invention; and

Figure 2 is a detail View, in perspective, of a modification of the apparatus in Figure 1.

Like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views of the drawing.

Referring now to the drawing, and particularly Figure 1, wherein one embodiment of our invention is shown, I generally indicates a trough comprising a horizontal base portion 2 and side walls 3 which are integral with the base portion and at right angles thereto. Set in the trough and adapted to be positioned along the length thereof are a front roller 4 and aback roller 5, the ends of which are in close proximity to the inner surfaces of sidewalls 3 to permit only a slight clearance therebetween. The placing of rollers 4 and 5 where desired along the trough permits'the effective length of the trough to be increased or decreased depending upon the length of trough desired. The means for positioning and supporting each of said rollers along the trough are provided in the form of supporting posts 6 and I, said posts being adapted to be suitably anchored at their bases after said rollers are positioned as desired along the trough. Back roller 5 is designed for vertical adjustment and to this end there are provided adjustable bearings 8 slidably mounted in the posts 1, in which bearings the shaft 9 of said back roller is journalled. Suitable adjustment is obtained by means of set screws In, which are threaded through the top of the posts I in alignment with bearings 8. If desired, roller 5 can be, allowed to ride freely of its own weight, or may be weighted, and such freedom of movement may be obtained. by merely maintaining set screws III at their maximum height and out of contact with bearings 8. Front roller 4 is mounted on a shaft l l which is journalled in fixed bearings 12 which are set at the top of posts 6. For the purpose of transporting the fibrous material, generally indicated by M, there is provided a driven, endless, perforated carrier apron l3 which passes under rollers 4 and 5 and is driven along the base 2 of trough l at any desired speed by suitable driving means (not shown).

Roller 4 may likewise be allowed to ride freely of its own weight and thus, in place of fixed bearings I2, the posts 6 may be provided with verticalchannels or hearing slots 12', as shown in Figure 2, thus allowing greater flexibility and response in said roller under'conditions of operation where the thickness of the layer of fibrous material being processed varies from time to time. This modification in the'manner in which roller 4 may be mounted, may also, if desired, be utilized for mounting roller 5 in place of adjustable bearings 8 as shown in Figure 1. Thus, posts 1 may be provided with vertical channels orbearing slots similar in all respects to those shown in Figure 2 for mounting roller 4 and, by

- apron, thereby creating a sealed bath area which is bounded along the length thereof by side walls 3 and across the width by the rollers 4 and 5.

The liquid contained in this bath area acts to wet out the fibrous material which passes through it and the time of treatment for the fibers is determined by the speed at which the carrier apron I3 is driven. The action is uniform for when the loose mass enters the bath area it is compressed by front roller 4, and upon being released from the pressure of the roller it expands and thus becomes thoroughly and evenly impregnated by the liquid in the bath area which is fed continuously to the stock from a source of supply (not shown) just after it passes under roller 4. As the fibrous mass isicarried out of the bath area, the pressure of back roller 5 causes some of the liquid to be expressed from the fibers and to be retained in the bath area, while the assaoes for treating various fibrous materials such as wetted, tinted or otherwise impregnated fibers are carried beyond the roller 5 and delivered to any desired point or subjected to any additional desired processing operation. Excess liquid is caught and returned to the source of supply. In this way excellent results are obtained by the use of only a relatively small amount of liquid and complete wetting of the fibrous materials is obtained.

Under certain conditions of operation, it has been found that excellent results may be obtained with our'process even if it is-carried out with only the front roller 4 and without back roller 5. Any liquid running oi the trough when asbestos, jute, hemp, etc., it is particularly useful in treating textile materials in the form of staple fib'erssuch as cotton, silk, wool, regenerated cellulose, and especialy staple fibers having a basis of an organic derivative of cellulose, such as cellulose acetate.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by way of illustration and that many variations. may .be made therein without departing from the spirit of our invention. A

Having described our invention, what we desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An apparatus for treating fibrous material with liquid media, comprising an open end trough for receiving and holding the liquid treating media therein, a perforated carrier apron for receiving the fibrous material and conveying the same through said trough and rollers positioned along the length of said trough and extending across the width of the same for preventing the escape of the liquid treating media from said trough. v

- 2. An apparatus for treating fibrous material with liquid media, comprising an open end trough for receiving and holding the liquid treating media therein, a driven endless perforated carrier apron for receiving the fibrous material and conveying the same through saidtrough, and vertically adjustable idler rollers positioned along the length of said trough and extending across the width of the same for preventing the escape of the liquid treating media from said trough, said rollers being capable of adjustment relative to each other to increase or diminish the liquid i media containing area of said trough.

3. An apparatus for treating fibrous material with liquid media, comprising an open end trough 40' for receiving and holding the liquid treating operating under these conditions is recovered and may be used again.

It willthus be seen that we have provided an exceedingly practical and simple apparatus whereby fibrous materials may be treated with liquid media as a continuous operation or as a series of continuous operations, if, for example,

the carrier'apron I3 is moved through a series of bath areas each containing a different treating agent.

While the device of our invention may be used media therein, a driven, endless perforated carrier apron for receiving the fibrous material and conveying the same through said trough, and rollers positioned along the length of said trough and extending across the width of the same, the construction and arrangement of said rollers being such that they cooperate with the fibrous material being treated to prevent the escape of the liquid treating media from said trough.

W. RAYMOND SIMPSON. H. HOWORTH. 

